Ariel Dempsey is a physician and scholar working at the interface of medicine and theology. She earned her MD from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and DPhil in Science & Religion from the University of Oxford, supervised by Alister McGrath and Matthew Kirkpatrick.

She has a deep interest in how we navigate uncertainty in medicine, especially at the end of life, and explores what medicine can learn from religious traditions in living with uncertainty. Her doctoral research developed the concept of Palliating Uncertainty—an approach grounded in the values of palliative care and shaped by the philosophy of pragmatism. Ariel is also a member of the team that received the Oxford Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Teaching and the Medical Science Division Teaching Excellence Award for the development and teaching of a Medical Humanities Curriculum at the Oxford Medical School. After postdoctoral work, she will pursue residency in psychiatry with a fellowship in palliative care. 

Ariel is also a professional cyr wheel artist and is fascinated by the way in which dance and movement can reach towards that which isn’t easily contained in words.